V is for Virgin Tour stop

 

  When Val Jensen gets dumped for her decision to stay a virgin until marriage, the nasty breakup goes viral on YouTube, making her the latest internet sensation. 

After days of ridicule from her peers, Val starts a school-wide campaign to rally support for her cause. She meant to make a statement, but she never dreamed the entire nation would get caught up in the controversy. 

As if becoming nationally recognized as “Virgin Val” isn’t enough, Val’s already hectic life starts to spin wildly out of control when bad boy Kyle Hamilton, lead singer for the hit rock band Tralse, decides to take her abstinence as a personal challenge.  


How can a girl stay true to herself when this year’s Sexiest Man Alive is doing everything in his power to win her over?

Guest post

V is for Very, Very Long Journey

Of all the novels I’ve ever written, and that’s probably somewhere in the teens or twenties by now, V is for Virgin took me the longest to write. Usually, once I throw myself into a novel I am finished with a first draft within three to four months. V took me over three years.

It started out as a random comment from my baby brother said in jest. I’d asked him what to write and he said, “Write a book about me where I am a hot famous rock star who gets all the chicks.”

I pointed out what a dork he was, but still took the idea and ran with it. I figured that if Kyle already had everything and “got all the chicks” then I would write a story about the one girl he couldn’t win over. I then gave her a reason that he couldn’t win her over and the idea of V is for Virgin was born. Right away I fell in love with this idea, and I absolutely LOVED my characters. I wrote the first third of the novel in about a week.

This is the part of the story where I explain to you that I suffer from an illness known as Story ADD. I cannot stick to one idea for very long. My brain has way too many stories it wants to write all the time and they are constantly fighting for my attention. (You have no idea how crowded it is in my head!) Anyway, I jump from story to story all the time based on my mood. 

I always have at least two or three novels in the works at one time. That’s just how I roll. Usually I still manage to just between those couple and finish them all around the same time but for some reason V is for Virgin was always the first one I put away when I got distracted. Since starting V, I have completed three and a half other novels.

For some reason I just couldn’t get V written. It became my “in between” novel. The book I’d pick up and write a chapter or two when I was between other novels. But it never stopped wanting me to write it. (Yes, I promise you stories are living things perfectly capable of nagging!) My mind would drift to it every time I opened Microsoft Word, and eventually it got so bad that I started dreaming about it. This novel wanted, no, demanded to be finished.

Once I completed this novel I actually went out with my husband to celebrate. I can’t tell you why I struggled so much with finishing this book, but I can tell you that I have never been so happy that I pushed through a story I struggled with. I LOVE this book. I am so proud of it, and I really thing people are going to enjoy it. Writing isn’t always fun, and it’s almost never easy if you make the effort to do it right, but it is always worth it. Seeing my books out there for the world to share is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever accomplished, and because of the struggle it took to get there, V is for Virgin is the most satisfying yet.

Author Kelly Oram

Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and loves to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and four children.

Links:

Blog: http://www.kellyoram.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyoram

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Oram/167476866620455

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3203095.Kelly_Oram

 

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End of the World Giveaway Hop

End of the World Giveaway Hop

December 14th to 21st

Hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
& My Life With Books

12/21/12

The Mayan Calendar Ends!

Does it mean the end of the World?

Probably not but just in case...

Which books would you save if the world was coming to an end? 

 

 

For me, I'd enjoy the irony of saving a book about the end of the world at the end of the world, so I decided on Dissidence by Jamie Canosa, my most recent favorite dystopian novel. Stop by on the 19th to read my reveiw of Jamie's amazing new novel.

Leave me a comment as to what book you'd save. Help me build my TBR - as if I have time to read! :o)

 

Enter using the Rafflecopter below to win your own copy of Dissidence. Then use the linky list below that to hop on over to other blogs for more chances to win other great novels.

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The Legend of Garison Fitch Blog Tour

Tour Schedule

First Time: The Legend of Garison Fitch

"What if history didn't happen that way ... the first time?"

Garison Fitch was one of the most revered scientists in the Soviet Americas until he left fame behind to work on a secret project in his log cabin in the mountains of Marx.

But something went wrong. Instead of traveling interdimentionally, Garison has traveled through time ... twice.

Now, he's in something called "The United States of America" and a woman he's never met before is calling herself his wife. It it a hoax? Or, has he somehow changed history?

If so, can he return the world to what he believes is "normal", or must he live in this strange world he created?

Purchase

Kindle * Nook * Smashwords

Also Part of the Series:

Saving Time

Two years ago Garison Fitch traveled through time and rewrote history. An accident in the eighteenth century created a whole new world, and even gave Garison a wife he had never met before. Now, he’s got a daughter and he’s coming to enjoy this world he created. Until he’s attacked by men masquerading as Indians, and a funeral procession from out of the past enlists his help, and a tree grows from sappling to full-grown in a matter of minutes, threatening his daughter’s very life. Time itself is unraveling and Garison’s trips through time seem to be the cause. Garison must go back in time once again and keep himself from making the original trip that started the problem. But he can’t use his time machine to go back. How does one sew up a rip in time?

Lost Time

Jason Kerrigan and Brownwyn Dalmouth are pilots with the Republic of Texas Army Air Corps. A world war is going on and bombs have just brought an end to Crockett Air Field in south Texas. Jason and Bronwyn, though, are called away from the battle to be test pilots for a new aircraft that-they're told-will bring the war to an end. The experimental craft lives up to expectations in early tests, but then it lands them somewhere it never should have sent them. Another place? Another time? Another dimension? Somehow, they've taken a trip to the future and changed the past. Or did they? The answer to their change of reality may be known to a Justice of the Peace in Colorado named Garison Fitch. To figure it out, though, Garison may have to team up with his least favorite person: Bat Garrett.

Purchase

Kindle * Nook * Smashwords

Author Samuel Ben White

Samuel Ben White (“Sam” to his friends) is the author of the national newspaper comic strip “Tuttle’s” (found at www.tuttles.net) and the on-line comic book “Burt & the I.L.S.” (found at www.destinyhelix.com). He is married and has two sons. He serves his community as both a minister at a small church and a chaplain with hospice. In addition to his time travel stories, Sam has also written and published detective novels, a western, three fantasy novels and four works of Christian fiction.

Links

Twitter * Facebook * Website

Blog Tour Giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card
Ends 12/18/12
Open to anyone who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent's permission. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


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First Time: The Legend of Garison Fitch Tour Schedule:
http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/2012/10/first-time-blog-tour.html

For What It's Worth Blog Tour

For What It's Worth by Karey White


Twenty-four year-old, Abby Benson has dreams of owning her own wedding cake shop. An inheritance from her aunt gives her the ability to make those dreams come true. She hires Dane, a handsome contractor, to help her get the bakery up and running and soon they’re moving toward their own happy ending.


Unsure what to charge for her cakes, Abby has a crazy idea to let the customer decide what they think their cake is worth. This plan has its ups and downs, but the novelty of the idea makes her a local celebrity. When she is interviewed on television about the unusual idea, business booms and Abby has cake adventures she never dreamed possible. But as her fame grows, Abby is swept up in a whirlwind that threatens everything she values. With the challenges that face her, will she be able to determine what is worth the most?

My review of For What It’s Worth by Karey White:

This is Karey’s second book, and it’s theme is very different than her first book, Gifted, proof that Karey’s talent extends beyond one genre.

In For What It’s Worth, Abby is left a bakery and the money needed to pursue her dream of opening a wedding cake shop. She opens the yellow pages and picks out a contractor, surprised and pleased when the handsome Dane Reynolds shows up on her doorstep, who coincidentally shares her religious beliefs, something rare in Washington. They hit it off and before long, they’re dating.

Abby has all she wants in the mild success of the bakery and her new love Dane, mostly due to her unique pricing method of allowing customers to pay what they think the cake is worth rather than a set price. A series of events causes the shop to succeed beyond her wildest dreams. Abby then has to decide what her priorities are. Is it the bakery which now takes up her every waking moment, or her desire to have a family—with Dane? In For What It’s Worth Karey asks us to think about our own lives. If we’re given everything we’ve ever wanted, only those things don’t work together, what would be most important to us?

Karey has created memorable and lovable characters in this book. Abby and Dane are both flawed humans, like the rest of us, who are perfect for each other. Their families are full of appealing characters, and Abby’s shop helpers are interesting and intriguing. I love the premise of the “pay me what you think it’s worth” idea. Karey extends the theme to other areas of the book by asking what all aspects of our lives are worth.

One of the best parts of the book is that each chapter starts with a recipe that has to do with something in the chapter, everything from “Aunt Grace’s Favorite Snickerdoodles” to “Homemade Egg Noodles” to “Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie” (which I can’t wait to try) to “A Fairy Tale Day.”

It’s a great book that I had a hard time putting down. I’d keep saying, “one more chapter” and then five chapters later, eyes drooping, I’d finally put it aside. It’s as charming as its lead characters, the love story is realistic and heartbreaking and uplifting, and as much as you want to shake Abby for some of the disastrous decisions she makes, they are completely understandable and human. 

I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy good LDS romance stories.

Interview with Karey

CB: For anyone who isn’t yet familiar with you, tell us a little about yourself.

KW: I'm married to a great guy and I have four fantastic kids. I'm the oldest of eleven children so I have a ton of family, including dozens of nieces and nephews. I love to create and over the years, I've owned my own wedding cake business, I've designed and made clothes, I've done scrapbooking, needlework, art. The great thing about writing is that I can create with much less mess than most of the other things I've done. 

CB:You’ve said you enjoy baking, which is obvious in this book. Was the book inspired by your love of baking, or did the story come to you outside of that particular hobby?

KW:I had my own wedding cake business for about a dozen years. I always thought it would be fun to write a book about someone in the business because there is a lot of drama and humor that comes with any job that deals exclusively with brides and weddings. 

CB:How did you come up with the fabulous idea of beginning each chapter with a recipe?

KW:I love to bake and I love to cook. I thought it would be fun to share recipes and a few cake decorating instructions with readers. I read recipe books like they're novels and I devour cake decorating books. Even now that I don't do wedding cakes anymore, I still love to look at them and read books about them. 

The recipe’s all reflect something within the chapter, either something the characters are eating or making. Did you add the recipe’s after you finished a chapter, or did you have an idea of what recipe’s you wanted to include and then add that food item to the chapter to make it fit the recipe? 

When I first wrote the book, I had either a quote or a recipe at the beginning of each chapter. Jennifer, my editor, liked the idea of the recipes more than the quotes, so she suggested we do a recipe of some kind at the beginning of each chapter. Since I already had recipes at the beginning of about half the chapters, it wasn't hard to go back and work in the other recipes. And just so you know, I've made every recipe in the book. Except the "How to Ruin a Birthday." I hope I don't ever try that one.

CB:Where did you come up with the unique and risky way that Abby chooses to price her creations?

KW:The idea behind Abby's pricing method came as a result of a conversation I had with the mother of a bride whose cake I did. She loved the cake and said she was surprised what a bargain it was. It looked so much more expensive than what they paid. As I thought about that later, I wondered what she'd have been willing to pay for it. Fast forward a few years and I was writing the story.

CB:Are any of your characters based on anyone you know in real life?

KW:Parts of Abby are definitely based on me, although I think she's probably braver than me. I borrow from people in all my writing. There are little bits and pieces of people I know in most of my characters.

CB: How much time do you spend each day/week on writing?

KW:I try to devote several hours every weekday to my writing, but when I say "my writing," I'm actually including more than just writing. I'm including marketing, keeping up with my blog/website, trying to come up with a clever tweet occasionally. I don't do much writing on Saturdays and I never do any on Sundays. 

CB:What project are you working on next?

KW: I'm so excited about my current project. It's the story of a girl who falls head over heels for Mr. Darcy. And not just any Mr. Darcy, but the one played by Matthew Macfadyen in the 2005 film. It's been a blast to write and I borrowed heavily from my own experience falling head over heels for that particular Mr. Darcy.  

 

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